Shifting-post binder



June 17 1924.

1,498,188 A. R. MEYER ET AL SHIFTING POST BINDER Filed June 18. 1921z'sneems-sneez 1 EEEEE Mi iUE June 17 1924. 1,498,188

A. R. MEYER ET AL.

SHIFTING POST BINDER Filed June 18. 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 3125 Iifi wfir/flaw .fleyer amend. 752 ed Patented June 17, 1924.

PATENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR R. MEYER AND ELMER A. REED, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNORS TOWILSON-JONES LOOSE LEAF COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

snrrrrrnemosr BINDER.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ARTHUR R. MEYER and ELMER A. REED, citizens of theUnited States, and residents of the city of Chicago, in the county ofCook and State'of Illinois,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Shifting-PostBinder; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear,and exact description of the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings and to the numerals of reference marked thereon.

This invention relates to loose leaf bind ers having telescoping orrelatively slidable 1 posts upon which the leaves are removably hingedby means of apertures or notches in the leaves. c

It is an object of this invention to pro vide a binder of this type withlongitudinally shiftable means in combination wit-h leaves having slots,whereby the leaves can be locked in the binder in one position of saidmeans and unlocked therefrom in another position thereof.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a structure in whichthe leaves can be readily offset with relation toeaeh other. lVith theseand other objects in View. which will become more apparent in thefollowing description and disclosures in the drawings, our inventioncomprises the novel features of construction hereinafter described andmore particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In. the accompanying drawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment ofour in vention, and in which similar reference numerals refer to similarparts in the different views: a H

Figure 1 is a front plan view of a binder with the hinged covers removedembodying the features of our invention. Figure 2 is a sideelevationthereof showing how the post supports are slidably supported onthe side walls'of the binder.

Figure 3 is'a section on the line 33- of Figure 1 on an enlarged scale.

Figure 4C is a longitudinal section through the binder on the line 4t ofFigure 3.

Figure 5 is a front perspective view of the binder involving ourinvention containing leaves which are separated in the center and foldedover to illustrate a simple means for shifting the posts.

Figure 7 with parts omitted.

Figure 7 is a section similar to Figure 3 illustrating the means forshifting the posts on an enlargedscale. t

Figure 8 is a diagrammatic view of the slotted rear'portion of a leafillustrating the locking and unlocking position of the posts.

As shown on the drawings: For the purpose of illustrating and explainingthe operation of our invention, we have shown the same incorporated in abinder which, for this purpose may be any binder that contemplates theuseof leafholding means or posts or. the like, for removably retainingthe leaves. The illustrated form of binder comprises briefly a back orbase 1 upon which are slidingly supported the curved or beaded sidewalls 2 having the horizontal flanges 3 which rest and slidetransversely on the base 1 and the vertical portions 4 for supportingthe posts, and theintermediate curved or beaded portions in which thestuds 5 are mounted.

Figure 6is a section on the line 6-6 of These studs are connected tolinks 6 which are operatively connected by meansof nuts 7 to the screwmember 8 anchored to the base. The screw member may be operated foradjusting the sides of the binder as is well known in the art. I

Our invention as applied to the above described binder or incorporatedtherein consists of shif'table' leaf-holding means adapted tocooperatewith slots in the loose leaves for looking or unlocking themwith respect to the binder, and means for shifting the leaf-holdingmeans. lVhile the leaf holding means may take various forms, in thepresent instance, a plurality of pairs of telescoping posts 9 and 10 areshown which are secured to slidable plates or members 11 adjustablysupported on the inner sides of the walls 2 by means of headedprojections 12 extending through slots 13 in'the side walls 2 andsecured in'said plate members 11 with the headsonthe projectionsoverlapping the slots on the outer surface of the side wall. members 11may be used, and each pairv comprising a plate member on one side wall,

and the plate member directly opposite 011 the other side wall maysupport one or more pairs of posts as desired. A preferable con- Anyeven number of .slidable I struction, the one which we have illustrated,

contemplates the use of two pairs of slidable regarded merely as amatter of design.

This invention contemplates the use of loose leaves having slots whichthe posts can enter and in which they can be shifted for lockingpurposes. Thus slots having entrance necks and each having alongitudinally extending notch of sufficient depth would answer for thispurpose, but we preferably desire to useleaves with slots havingentrance necks with each slot having two oppositely extendinglongitudinal notches of suitable depth producing a slot known as themushroom or T-shaped slot as shown in Figure 8. It should, however, beunderstood that by the term slot is meant any form of slot that allowsthe posts to slightly shift therein to engage the walls thereof forholding purposes.

From an inspection of the slotted leaf 14 shown in Figure 8, it will beseen that certain posts are shifted in one direction to the ends of themushroom slots as shown in dotted lines and that other posts are shiftedin the opposite direction to the opposite ends of the slots as shown indotted lines, thus securely locking the leaves from being longitudinallymovable and also from being transversely movable or removable from thebinder when the said posts are in leaflocking position. The longitudinalshifting movements of the posts or leaf-holding means should be limitedso that said posts cannot be shifted beyond the ends of the slots tocrimp or spoil the leaves when moved to locking position and cannot beshifted beyond the entrance neck of the slot when shifted to unlockingposition so that leaves can be readily inserted or removed. To thuslimit the movement of said posts, the slots 13 in the side walls 2 aremade of a length of a desired proportion as com pared to the length ofthe mushroom slots determined by the movement from full line to dottedline position in Figure 8 so that the plate members 11 which aresupported in said slots and which in turn support said posts can only beadjusted or shifted the proper distance- In order to lock the leaves inthe binder, the upper pairs of posts shown in the binder and which aresupported by a pair of said plate members 11 can be simultaneously moveddownwardly from the full line posi tion to the dotted position (Figure8), and the lower two pair of posts which are similarly supported can besimultaneously moved upwardly from full line to dotted line position.The shifting operation can be effected by hand or some means may beprovided. A simple means for this purpose is illustrated in Figures 5and 6 and consists of a pair of thin plate members 15 having deepnotches 16 in their lower edges to receive the posts, one plate memberbeing designed to fit over the upper pair. of posts while the other isadapted to fit over the lower pair of posts. Both plate members aredesigned to project a short distance beyond the ends of the binderwhereby they may be grasped by the hand for shifting purposes. Thesemembers 15 can readily be inserted between the loose leaves and wheninserted in the same place as between the same leaves, it is necessarythat their inner ends be spaced apart a distance equal to at least thelength ofthe shifting movements of both plates. For this purpose, themembers 15 are so designed that suflicient spacing between the innerends is alwaysprovided.

For the purpose of permitting the leaves of the binder to be offset,.theleaf-holding means or posts are equally spaced so that when the postsare in a leaf-unlocking position, as shown in full lines in Figure 8, aleaf can readily be removed and shifted beyond the ends of the binder adistance equal to the distance between two posts. The

leaf may then be inserted again and retained by the remaining posts orone post less than the number of posts used as is obvious from Figure 8,or in other words the leaf is offset with respect to one of the outer orend posts. This binder is accordingly well. adapted for either pen andink. or mechanical bookkeepmg.

In using a binder involving theabove dedescribed invention, leaves canreadily be inserted or removed by shifting the posts to leaf-unlockingposition. I l Vhen no special shifting means are provided, the shiftingof the posts can be done by hand. Vhen the shiftable plate members 15are used, the outer ends thereof can be grasped by the fingers and theplates shifted to bring the posts to leaf-unlocking position as isobvious. In the illustrated invention, the

posts move inwardly of the binder when they are shifted to leaf-lockingposition, and move outwardly to leaf-unlocking position, but it isobvious that a reverse arrangement could be adopted.

We are aware that numerous details of construction can bevaried througha'wide range without departing from the principles of this invention,and we therefore do not purpose limiting the patent granted otherwisethan necessitated by the prior art.

We claim as our invention:

1. In a loose leaf binder having side walls provided with, slots, a,plurality of plate members having headed projections slidable in saidslots, and leaf-holding posts carried by said members.

2. In a loose leaf binder, th combination with a plurality of equallyspaced longitudinally shiftable leaf-holding means, of leaves havingslots for engaging said means to be locked in the binder thereby, saidmeans being shiftable to leaf-unlocking position in said slots, wherebya leaf may be removed and offset with respect to one of said leafholdingmeans.

3. In a loose leaf binder the combination with longitudinally shiftableleaf-holding insertable between said leaves for engaging said posts forshifting the same into and out of the notches in the leaves.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

ARTHUR R. MEYER. ELMER A. REED.

Witnesses:

A. W. BLoss, R. B. ALnnRsoN.

